Where to sell handmade online: List updated

I thought it would be interesting to create a list of sites that one could sell their handmade goods. I use Compete.com’s metrics to track traffic numbers over time for these online venues.

You’ll note columns for a site’s latest rank, as well as its previous rank and a column for actual site traffic.

An M means millions and a k is thousands. (4M is 4,000,000 and 4k is 4,000.) If a number is listed without either an M or a k, you can assume this is the actual number of visitors per month.

I’ve sorted the sites in this list from most to least trafficked. You can click on each site name to visit that site directly.

The LOWER the rank number the HIGHER the number of visitors a site receives. LOWER numbers are BETTER.

Does more traffic mean more sales? Maybe, but it’s not a given that larger traffic numbers equate to larger sales revenues for a site’s member sellers. Do your homework: visit site forums, Google for feedback and user opinions, ask questions.

Note: Some of the sites listed allow vendors to sell commercial AND handmade products. Also, sites that have moved more than 3 slots since the last review are highlighted in red text.

Looking for an etsy competitor? Seeking another venue to sell you handmade items? Asking what other sites are out there to list your handmade artisan work? This list may help.

What sites did I miss? What do you think of the sites you use? Please share your experiences.

I have TRIED to sell on the following sites
Artfire-Etsy-Madeitmyself-fineartamerica,bonanza,zibbet, artiscraft-artyoucan-and a few more. I did not like Etsy or ebay. The others have produced minimum sales, very minimum.

Thank you for this list. After Etsy pulled my shop due to my having an independent website for my items (according to some non-competitive clause even though I never sent anybody through Etsy to my site), I have been looking for a new outlet for selling. Having closed my website I’ve been even further in a pinch. Thanks to your list I now have a whole bunch of new sites to explore and look into as a possible selling location. I appreciate your hard work in posting this.

I’m not sure that they don’t want you to have your own website, but I was accused of fee avoidance for owning my own shop when I contacted them upon their closing my account. I scoured their TOS just now to bring it up and they have several ways to nick you one this. The following are copied from their ToS as well as their Do’s and Don’ts which you agree to follow upon accepting the ToS. Mind you, you have no recourse with them even if you did not do these things. The first one was what I was accused of and never once did I send somebody from Etsy to purchase anything from my online shop.

You may not use Etsy to direct shoppers to another online selling venue to purchase the same items as listed in your Etsy shop, as this may constitute fee avoidance. This includes posting links/URLs or providing information sufficient to locate the other online venue(s).

An Etsy account may not be used for the purpose of redirecting traffic to another web location. This includes shops in Vacation Mode. Please contact Support to have your account closed if you are no longer using it.

You may not engage in any activity to avoid Etsy’s fees (“fee avoidance”). This includes but is not limited to: completing a transaction off-Etsy once it has been initiated on the site, listing an item below its intended purchase price or canceling a valid completed transaction.

A team may not be used for the sole purpose of redirecting traffic to another web location. Etsy reserves the right to refuse links on any profile page or team page for any reason. Unsolicited promotion or advertisement from representatives or affiliates of outside services, websites or other products is not allowed. If your company, organization, or institution wants to start a team, you must get permission through Etsy’s partnerships and sponsorships program by contacting teams@etsy.com.

About account closing:

Without limiting any other remedies, Etsy may, without notice, and without refunding any fees, delay or immediately remove Content, warn Etsy’s community of a user’s actions, issue a warning to a user, temporarily suspend a user, temporarily or indefinitely suspend a user’s account privileges, terminate a user’s account, prohibit access to the Site, and take technical and legal steps to keep a user off the Site and refuse to provide services to a user if any of the following apply:

Etsy suspects (by information, investigation, conviction, settlement, insurance or escrow investigation, or otherwise) a user has breached this Agreement, the Privacy Policy, The DOs & DON’Ts of Etsy, or other policy documents and community guidelines incorporated herein; Etsy is unable to verify or authenticate any of your personal information or Content; or Etsy believes that a user is acting inconsistently with the letter or spirit of Etsy’s policies, has engaged in improper or fraudulent activity in connection with Etsy or the actions may cause legal liability or financial loss to Etsy’s users or to Etsy.

Oh I LOVE this policy:

Re-Posting Content: By posting Content on Etsy, it is possible for an outside website or a third party to re-post that Content. You agree to hold Etsy harmless for any dispute concerning this use. If you choose to display your own Etsy-hosted image on another website, the image must provide a link back to its listing page on Etsy.

Also, if your listing is pulled for any reason, you agreed in the ToS that you would still pay the fees for the item even though you now can’t sell it.

So all of that said, anybody posting on Etsy that owns their own website, please be careful. I was informed that my account was closed in accordance with the Terms due to owning an outside webshop that sold items that were available in my Etsy shop even though I had many of each item as they were handmade doll items from the same patterns and materials.

Would I ever recommend anybody to use Etsy to sell? No way. Their policies are absolutely ridiculous when you read through them all (including the Do’s and Don’ts because you agreed to them!), their search function is terrible, and the site has been really overrun with supply sellers and vintage items.

We’ve found that a concentration on our own website is the best way to go. Create traffic via good quality rich content, social media avenues(of which there seem to be more and more each day), seo, relevant quality link building,ppc and some offline work. This way you’re building value into a ‘property’ you have full control over and no one can arbitrarily change policy and effect your business (ebay urghh!).Good post.

I agree with WW Jewellery in that your own website is the way to go. You can build up a customer base with the marketplaces while building and establishing your personal site. It does take time but you will not be at the mercy of policy changes and fee increases. Ebay ended up driving many sellers away and that could happen to the other venues as well. It is good to have a backup plan.

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